Positioning 101 - Stick Level

Great goalie play starts with a strong, consistent and efficient stance. A strong starting point sets us up for CONSISTENT success in the cage. One tip is to think about your hand-height in the cage as a way to eliminate saves you NEED to make. We will always drive and try to win possessions by saving shots that are over the cage or wide, but by lining up the lip of our stick with the crossbar when we get in our stance, we have cut out getting beat over the top of our stick (assuming we don't have the dreaded "hitch" in our hands). Here's a great example of one of our goalies from The Haverford School lining up properly. His stick is even with the crossbar, eliminating the need to go up for shots on cage while not being OVER the cage, which would waste the stick by being outside the 6x6 cage.

This is not a tip for the 5-foot tall 6th grader, but as goalies start to get older/taller, begin to use the crossbar to determine how high/low their hands should be in their stance. This one "check-point" can improve stance immediately!